Continuing Care Retirement Communities

The 3,731 Continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) in the US provide assisted living with on-site skilled nursing facilities, independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing services either on campus or at nearby facilities. These facilities involve a contract each resident signs, entitling them to a continuum of care in exchange for payment of an entrance fee and ongoing monthly fees.

Sensitivity to Capital Markets

Difficulty in obtaining financing or in re-financing existing debt can force CCRCs to delay needed renovations, postpone planned expansions, or prevent them from breaking ground.

Demographic Trends Grow Demand

Since January 2011, baby boomers have been turning age 65 at a rate of 10,000 per day - and this will continue for 20 years.

Sep 8, 2026 - Solo-Agers Prompt Industry Change

• Senior living facility operators are fine-tuning their approach to reach a growing cohort of solo-ager older adults without traditional family or caregiver support, according to Senior Housing News. More than 24 million people aged 50 and older live at home, according to AARP. Of that cohort, 10% live alone, are unpartnered, and have no living children. An additional 11% have children but were estranged from them, while 13% have children they did not view as able or trustworthy to assist with their caregiving and support. The AARP study also found that 71% of solo-agers would consider moving to a senior living community, and the industry has long competed for older adults aging in place. This cohort of older adults also has little or no care plan for ongoing living assistance at home, according to Senior Housing News.
• Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs) experienced strong occupancy increases in 2025 with notable performance in independent living, assisted living, and memory care segments, according to The National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care. The oldest Baby Boomers are starting to move into senior living communities and the first Boomers turn 80 in 2026 so demand is expected to remain robust. CCRC inventory growth is expected to remain constrained, however. Lengthy development timelines and pivots toward organizational growth through acquisitions and affiliations rather than new development continue to limit new supply. This combination of high demand and limited inventory growth is likely to drive occupancy up, so CCRC occupancy rates are expected to maintain positive momentum going into 2026.
• More than 564,000 new senior living units will be needed by 2030, but only about 191,000 are expected to be added at current rates, according to McKnight's Senior Living. Older adults are moving into senior housing at a rapid pace, and that trend will continue given the wave of baby boomers and many more ‘solo agers’ who don’t have a caregiver to rely on as a safety net, according to Lisa McCracken, head of research and analytics for the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care. “The industry needs to ramp up development for supply to catch up with demand, but we don’t foresee any meaningful movement here in 2025 given current market conditions.” The pace of new senior-housing units and units under development was slower than historical norms in the first quarter of 2025, according to Market Watch.
• Continuing care retirement community industry employment and average wages for nonsupervisory employees increased slightly during the first seven months of 2026, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nursing and residential care industry revenue increased 5.7% year over year and 1.2% quarter over quarter during the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the US Census Bureau. Continuing care retirement community industry sales are forecast to grow at a 4.53% compounded annual rate from 2026 to 2030, faster than the growth of the overall economy, according to Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc.

Industry size & Structure

The average CCRC has about 130 employees and generates $11 million in annual revenue.

• There are about 3,731 CCRC firms in the US operating 5,506 facilities with $41 billion in annual revenue and 485,800 employees.
• About half of facilities are "true" CCRCs offering care from independent living through skilled nursing under a contract that guarantees a continuum of care in exchange for an entrance fee and ongoing monthly fees.
• About half of "true" CCRCs are affiliated with faith-based organizations, such as Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, or Catholic churches.
• Companies that own and operate multiple communities include Life Care Services and Erickson Living.
• CCRCs are located in a range of geographical areas from urban to suburban to rural.